Alternate History: Chinese SEGA
'- Yes I have yet again returned, this time for a more serious Alternate History. This time, what if SEGA....was a Chinese company instead of a Japanese one? -' '- Note for this timeline to work, China is not a communist nation, so the first section of this timeline is a summary of that. Just skip it if you don't care and want to get to Chinese AU SEGA. - ' '- This is largely an exercise in Alternate History and in writing - ' The Greater Scope Point of Divergence: 1934-1935. A traitor within the ranks of the CCP divulges information on the CCP's movements to the KMT. This allows Chiang Kai-Shek's forces to intercept the CCP during the Long March and decimate their forces. By 1936-1937, the KMT had successfully won the Chinese Civil War, just in time to deal with the Japanese invasion. This results in a China ruled by the KMT Post-WWII. Former Countries and Disputed Territories (In Scenario 1 - This may or may not change): * Tibet: Annexed by the ROC in the 1950's. The Dalai Llama retains autonomous ruler-ship within the country, though it is largely nominal. * Xinjiang/East Turkestan: The ROC claims East Turkestan as part of it's territory, East Turkestan aims reunification with the rest of Xinjiang. East Turkestan is a member of the Central Asian Union, Economic Cooperation Organization, Economic Cooperation Organization Trade Agreement and Commonwealth of Independent States though receives little to no recognition beyond it's fellow member states. Chinese-controlled Xinjiang is increasingly Han Chinese. * Manchuria: From 1946 to 1993 - 1995, Manchuria was a separate country known as the Socialist People's Republic of Manchuria from 1946 to 1993, and then the Republic of Manchuria from 1993 to 1995. Following a regime that proved far worse the Kuomintang at even their worst, the Manchurian people voted to peacefully reunite with China following the final collapse of the Manchurian government. ** In Scenario 2, Manchuria is maintained as an independent, yet fragile, nation. Either a monarchy under a restored Qing, or a Republic. SEGA The SEGA Corporation is a Chinese multinational conglomerate headquartered at the Sega Tower in Shanghai, China. Founded by Martin Bromley and Richard Stewart in 1940 as Service Games supplied coin-operated machines to U.S. military bases before expanding into other countries -- initially Japan, though soon afterwards throughout Asia. Following an investigation into criminal business activities in the early 1960’s, Service Games of Japan was dissolved though soon after replaced by two new companies established by Bromley, which eventually merged with Rosen enterprises to form Sega Enterprises in 1965. Sega’s’ Chinese assets and operations became independent of the corporation as a whole and established the corporation of ZYG (Zhōngguó Yúlè Gōngsī) via a management buyout of Sega's Chinese assets while in charge of the company. In 1984, ZYG bought Sega Enterprises and all of it’s assets from Gulf and Western and established the modern conglomerate of The SEGA Corporation. The SEGA Corporation is one of China’s largest private corporations, with over 100 thousand more employees than America’s own Walt Disney Company. It is considered an industry leader in China’s consumer electronics market, and also operates Casinos, Resorts and Amusement Parks throughout China as well as SegaWorld arcades in both China and Japan (with some former operations in Australia and the United Kingdom). SEGA also owns and operates cable & satellite television networks as well as online streaming services, predominantly in China, Russia and surrounding countries. In the late 1990’s they expanded into acquiring several film and animation studios, all based in China, adding that to their catalogue as well. SEGA’s most profitable business is the development, publishing and distribution of video games, arcade games/cabinets and video game consoles, which they have been partaking in since the 1980’s. = 1940 - 1982: Origins Sega was initially founded in 1940 as Standard Games by Martin Bromley, Irving Bromberg and James Humbert. Based in Honolulu, Hawaii, they supplied military bases with coin-operated amusement machines. In 1951, following the U.S. banning of slot machines within their territory Bromley sent two of his employees -- Richard Stewart and Ray LeMaire -- to establish operations in bases located within Japan. By the following year, all five established Service Games Panama to control worldwide distribution. Over the course of the next seven years they also expanded in The Philippines, Korea, Vietnam and China. Service Games of Japan was dissolved in May 1960 due to investigations into criminal business practices, causing Service Games of China to begin servicing as the predominant asian branch of the brand, finding massive success by expanding from military business and beginning to produce games & machines for casinos such as in Macau. In Japan however, Bromley established two handle the assets of what had been lost, Nihon Goraku Bussan and Nihon Kikai Seizō.The two new companies purchased all of Service Games of Japan's assets. Kikai Seizō, doing business as Sega, Inc., focused on manufacturing slot machines. Goraku Bussan, doing business under Stewart as Utamatic, Inc., served as a distributor and operator of coin-operated machines, particularly jukeboxes. The companies merged in 1964, retaining the Nihon Goraku Bussan name Bromley established two companies to take over its business activities, Nihon Goraku Bussan and Nihon Kikai Seizō. The two new companies purchased all of Service Games of Japan's assets. Kikai Seizō, doing business as Sega, Inc., focused on manufacturing slot machines. Goraku Bussan, doing business under Stewart as Utamatic, Inc., served as a distributor and operator of coin-operated machines, particularly jukeboxes. The companies merged in 1964, retaining the Nihon Goraku Bussan name. David Rosen, an American officer in the United States Air Force stationed in Japan, launched a photo booth business in Tokyo in 1954.This company became Rosen Enterprises, and in 1957 began importing coin-operated games into Japan. In 1965, Nihon Goraku Bussan acquired Rosen Enterprises to form Sega Enterprises, Ltd. Rosen was installed as the CEO and managing director, while Stewart was named president and LeMaire was the director of planning. Shortly afterward, Sega stopped leasing to military bases and moved its focus from slot machines to coin-operated amusement machines. Its imports included Rock-Ola jukeboxes, pinball games by Williams, and gun games by Midway Manufacturing. In 1969, Dai Luoyang, President of Sega's Chinese subsidiary, bought out his end up of the company in a management buyout and founded his independent corporation out of the situation - Zhōngguó Yúlè Gōngsī (Abbreviated as ‘ZYG’). While still focusing on the original business ZYG would under the leadership of Chinese businessman Dai Luoyang expand into becoming a massive consumer electronics company throughout China, competing with the likes of Panda Electronics, in addition to opening their own Resort Casinos in cities where doing so remained legal. Later in the same year, Sega was bought out by American conglomerate Gulf and Western Industries, though Rosen remained the CEO. In 1974, Gulf and Western made Sega Enterprises, Ltd. a subsidiary of an American company renamed Sega Enterprises, Inc. Sega released Pong-Tron, its first video-based game, in 1973. Despite late competition from Taito's hit arcade game Space Invaders in 1978, Sega prospered from the arcade game boom of the late 1970s, with revenues climbing to over US$100 million by 1979. During this period, Sega acquired Gremlin Industries, which manufactured microprocessor-based arcade games, and Esco Boueki, a coin-op distributor founded and owned by Hayao Nakayama. Nakayama was placed in charge of Sega's Japanese operations. In the early 1980s, Sega was one of the top five arcade game manufacturers active in the United States, as company revenues rose to $214 million. 1979 saw the release of Head On, which introduced the "eat the dots" gameplay Namco later used in Pac-Man. In 1981, Sega licensed and released Frogger, its most successful game until then. In 1982, Sega introduced the first game with isometric graphics, Zaxxon. Despite the break in the company, Sega established partnerships with ‘ZYG’ in order to distribute their products & games within China in order to work around China's nativist/isolationist laws. 1982 - 1989: Entry into Video Game Market | Rise in China Following a downturn in the arcade business starting in 1982, Gulf and Western sold its North American arcade game manufacturing organization and the licensing rights for its arcade games to Bally Manufacturing. Gulf and Western retained Sega's North American R&D operation and its Japanese subsidiary, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. With its arcade business in decline, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. president Nakayama advocated for the company to use its hardware expertise to move into the home consumer market in Japan. This led to Sega's development of a computer, the SC-3000. Learning that Nintendo was developing a games-only console, the Famicom, Sega developed its first home video game system, the SG-1000, alongside the SC-3000. Rebranded versions of the SG-1000 were released in several other markets worldwide. Due in part to the SG-1000's steadier stream of releases, coupled with a recall on Famicom units by Nintendo, the SG-1000 sold 360,000 units in 1983, which far exceeded Sega's projection of 50,000 in the first year. The majority of these sales came from China. However, by 1984 the Famicom began to outpace the SG-1000. This was in part because Nintendo expanded its game library by courting third-party developers, whereas Sega was hesitant to collaborate with companies with which they were competing in the arcades. Shortly after the launch of the SG-1000, and the death of company founder Charles Bludhorn, Gulf and Western began to sell off its secondary businesses. Catching wind of this, Dai Luoyang met with Gulf and Western as well as Sega executives in order to discuss a purchase by ZYG of Sega's Japanese subsidiary in addition to all of it's assets. ZYG purchased Sega for approximately $38 million. Rosen and Nakayama were kept in the company's leadership in America and Japan respectively. Sega of China became the company's dominant division in overseeing all of it's international products in addition to those within China, while Sega of Japan maintained the company's presence and operations within Japan. Sega Europe, the company's European division, was established in 1984. At the end of Sega's deal with Bally, Sega Corporation of America was established in 1985, becoming simply Sega of America in 1986. The release of Hang-On in 1985 proved successful in North America, causing Sega to struggle with the demand for the game. The introduction of UFO Catcher in 1985 also caught on, to a point that it still remains Japan's most commonly installed claw game. In 1985, Sega began working on the Mark III, a redesigned SG-1000. For North America, Sega rebranded the Mark III as the Master System, with a futuristic design intended to appeal to Western tastes. In China, the system was branded as the Haowan.The system was released in Japan in 1985, though was unsuccessful at launch despite it's superior hardware. As Nintendo required third-party developers not to publish their Famicom games on other consoles, Sega developed its own games and obtained the rights to port games from other developers. Sales of the Master System in the United States were handicapped by ineffective marketing by Tonka, an American toy company who marketed the console there on Sega's behalf. The Haowan was released in China in December - January 1986 during the Chinese New Year celebrations, with the Master System being released in September of 1986 and in Europe in 1987, Brazil in 1989. However, the Master System/Mark III/Haowan was successful in three key markets - Europe, Brazil and China. China's video game market was just emerging, and many developers chose to work with Sega upon the company becoming an officially China-based corporation, giving the system a boost in third party support - albeit predominantly from China. In addition, Luoyang employed ruthless, aggressive marketing tactics against Nintendo, which proved successful - a polar opposite of the system's performance in Japan and North America. In China, the Haowan became China's highest selling video game console by the end of 1986, and despite Nintendo's best efforts Sega of China's marketing tactics - including a price drop for holiday and festival periods, helped the console maintain it's momentum against the Famicom. The Master System also proved to be successful in Europe and Brazil. Despite it's later release, it garnered a lifespan in Brazil that ultimately outlasted it's lifespan in all other regions - even in modern day the Master System is still sold under third party distributors and has garnered about 8 million units. Due to this the Master System is technically the longest-lived console in gaming history thus far. Out Run, released in 1986, became Sega's highest selling arcade cabinet of the 1980's, and alongside Hang-On has been attributed as a potential cause for the 1982 downturn being lifted as well as the creation of new video game genres. 1989 - 1994: Mainstream International Success 1991 - 1994: Expansion in Post-Soviet Russia 1994 - 2001: Expansion into Film, Television & Animation 2001 - 2007: Copyright Infringement Scandals, Leadership Changes 2007 - Present: Current Leadership & Company Expansion Console Sales SG-1000 (Mark I) * North America - * Japan - * Europe - * China - SG-1000 II (Mark II) * North America - * Japan - * Europe - * China - Master System * North America - * Japan - * China - * Brazil - * Europe - Mega Drive * China - * North America - * Europe - * Brazil - * Japan - Notes:Sega's sales in China are so large because, to put it simply, it's China. With such a large population, it is easy for a dominant company to gain plenty of sheer power from said dominance. In this timeline, Sega gets most of it's actual power from China. In addition, Nintendo had little to no presence in China prior to the mid 1980's, which allowed Sega to aggressively compete with them from the get-go.